Photojournalist Ron Haviv Urges Attention to Global Conflicts in Weatherhead Center Lecture

Award-winning photojournalist Ron Haviv urged audiences to pay closer attention to conflicts around the world during the Samuel L. and Elizabeth Jodidi Lecture on Thursday.

The lecture, titled “Testimony (1989-2026),” featured short films showcasing Haviv’s decades of photography documenting conflicts ranging from the breakup of Yugoslavia to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“I often am the one going towards the danger while everybody else is trying to flee,” he said.

The Jodidi Lecture, organized by the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, is a recurring series launched in 1955 that has featured prominent figures involved in global affairs and humanitarian work.

Haviv’s film “Starved for Attention,” a documentary on childhood malnutrition spearheaded by Doctors Without Borders, was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy Award in 2012. He also co-founded the VII Foundation, a nonprofit supporting photojournalism and documentary work in areas of international conflict.

An exhibition of conflict photography featuring Haviv’s work opened in the basement of CGIS South earlier this month and will remain on display until Jan. 4, 2027.

The short films, assembled by independent filmmakers, paired Haviv’s photographs with audios from interviews and speeches. Haviv said he hoped the films would draw attention to international conflicts he believes are too often overlooked.

“Look what is happening,” Haviv said. “Pay attention.”

Haviv also emphasized the importance of intuition in photojournalism, saying his experience has taught him to anticipate geopolitical conflicts. A week before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Haviv flew across the globe to document the impending invasion.

“So many people — diplomats and pundits — said, ‘Oh, there’s no possibility that Russia will actually invade Ukraine,’” he said. “It happened. I was one of the people who believed that it could happen.”

Haviv acknowledged that critics have labeled his photography “war porn” and characterized his work as the “beautification of poverty.” He pushed back on those criticisms, arguing that he deliberately focused on aesthetics to encourage viewers to engage more deeply with his images.

“I want you to be able to see the photograph, because if you’re not going to look at it, what’s the point of me being there?” Haviv said.

Haviv also discussed how the modern media landscape has given photojournalists new ways to reach audiences by combining photography, video, and audio.

“A working democracy cannot exist without a working and educated media,” he said.

But Haviv warned that generative artificial intelligence could undermine audiences’ trust in photography. Asked whether he was concerned about the use of AI to manufacture images, he argued that the technology poses a threat to the credibility of photojournalism.

“If you don’t believe what you’re looking at, then there’s no point in me going off and telling stories,” he said.